From meeting minutes of Secretary Tom Steimer

Meeting - February 28, 2007:

Attendees: Bob Cavanaugh, Gary Corpora, Joe DeFilippo, Fred Donofrio, Ken Ernst, Skip Gillis, John Kirwan, Tom Koch, George Mayer, Jim McCarthy, Bill McVeagh, Bob Parker, Don Redshaw, Tony Sangermano, Tom Steimer, Rich Weiss.

Minutes of the January 3 meeting were approved as corrected (women singing "Lida Rose' with chorus is Nancy Egan. The annual picnic is Sat. August 25, not August 18. Tom Koch located printer to do bulletin at lower cost).

Treasurer's report was presented by George Mayer and reviewed. Kenosha was advised by letter that the annual financial review of the chapter's books was completed. Year 2006 budget and spending was compared to 2007 budget. A 990 EZ Federal return will be filed for 2006. A Form 1099 will be filed for the Hot Air Buffoons. Chapter personnel who handle money will be bonded.

Vice President Reports:

VP Marketing & PR - Tom Koch will place a show ad in the Pittsburgh Senior news.

VP Chapter Development - Bob Parker suggested that we form teams (Attendance Team, Renewal Team, and Introduction Team) to help attract new members and hold on to existing members. Bob also suggested looking into the formation of a competition chorus.

VP Music & Performance - Skip Gillis wants to emphasize section rehearsals and noted that we must continue our Director search.

VP Program - Joe DeFilippo would like to have a Mihmbro contest shortly after the show. Joe also wants to encourage more chapter visitations.

Committee Reports:

Show Committee: Bob Parker to get a program Ad for WJAS. There will be no afterglow. The show ending has been changed.

Old and new business: Topics discussed included Director search, Show Committee Chair and Co-Chair for 2008 and adoption of a school program.

Meeting - March 28, 2007:

Attendees: Gary Corpora, Joe DeFilippo, Fred Donofrio, Skip Gillis, John Kirwan, Tom Koch, George Mayer, Don Redshaw.

Treasurer's report was presented by George Mayer. George reported that the required IRS form EZ 990 was obtained from the Society's web site.

Vice President Reports:

VP Marketing & PR - Tom Koch reported that a show Ad was placed in the Pittsburgh Senior News and in addition a notice was placed advertising the chorus being available for performances.

VP Program - Joe DeFilippo indicated he will emphasize section rehearsals and quarteting (with coaching) for performances and for singing valentines.

Committee Reports:

Show Committee: It was discussed that the board needs to confirm if Bob Parker has made a reservation for the 2008 show (venue and date). John Kirwan indicated that we should not send out the show flyers as early before the show as we have (~ eight weeks this year), unless we find a way to remind people just prior to the show. Bill Cardille has been a big help with his advertisements on WJAS.

Music Committee: Gary Corpora suggested having a brief meeting prior to our next Tuesday rehearsal to discuss ideas (and music) for next year's show. Skip Gillis discussed the need for ordering new music. John Kirwan requested that Jay Garber keep track of contacts from chorus performances so they can be added to our mailing list.

Old Business: Director search - It was suggested that Don Scheetz be contacted about being director. Don respectfully declined due to health issues. It would be preferable to find a director in the ranks [a barbershopper], not necessarily from our own chapter. Gary Corpora agreed to try to contact directors from other chapters to see if they knew anyone who might be interested.

New Business: Bob Cavanaugh offered to arrange for an afterglow at the All Saints Polish Roman Catholic Church in Carnegie. The board declined as it felt that it was too late to arrange for a caterer, etc.

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A wise man once told me that to grow, I should "meet regularly with those who hold vastly different views than I did." Could that be a director's motivation?

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Page 5

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Some thoughts on aging - We're all doing it !

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George Carlin's Views On Aging
Submitted by Jay Garber

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[We know we're all getting old.... Where do you fit into this scheme of things]?

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we are kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life... you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS! !!

But then you turn 30. Ooooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. WHOA! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90's, you start going backwards; "I was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

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Editor: OK.... So we're all getting old... we're entering the metallic age... gold in our teeth, silver in our hair and lead in our... feet. But consider the alternative to getting old! Any way; what can we do about it?

Accept it as part of the overall plan... enjoy each stage of your life as much as possible.... Keep singing!!

In the next column is a good article about how to age, while still staying young. After all, true age is a state of mind.

How To Stay Young
Submitted by Jim McCarthy

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How to stay young:

1. Try everything twice. On Madams tombstone (of Whelan's and Madam) she said she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice... loved it both times!

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. (Keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches).

3. Keep learning: Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with him/her.

6. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love: Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second time.

Lost time can never be found.


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Page 6

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Fourth Annual Harmony Festival
as reported by Tom Koch

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On February 24, 2007, the fourth annual Harmony Festival was held at the CAPA High School in downtown Pittsburgh. "CAPA" is an acronym for Creative and Performing Arts.

The Festival consisted of a morning teaching clinic and the afternoon "Festival." I wish to report here on the morning clinic, as this focused on teaching the barbershop style of A Cappella singing.

The primary instructor for the clinic was Vicki Gibson with assistance provided by Dennis Price. Vicki is the bass singer for The Front Office Four quartet, a Sweet Adeline director, and has a host of other choral positions and accomplishments too numerous to mention here. Dennis is also a Sweet Adeline director and may be better known to you as the tenor of the Hot Air Buffoons quartet.

Gibson & Price   Dynasty 2

To assist in demonstrating the Barbershop style of singing, Vickie drafted the talents of Dynasty 2 A quartet from the Sounds Of Pittsburgh chorus. The quartet consist of Rose McQuaid - tenor, Mary McHattie -lead, Judy Roman - bari and Carol Leary - bass.

Twenty-three high school students attended the clinic, including two quartets from Peters Township. The two quartets (one male and one female) sang during the clinic and also during the afternoon festival. Pictured below are the high school quartets:

The Overtones   Curtain Call

The Overtones
Sergio Tennis - tenor; Jerry Scheller - bass; Drew Caliguiri - lead; Tony Tennis - baritone

Curtain Call
Laura Zini - tenor; Caitlyn Roberson - bass; Lauren Larinovich - lead; Gina Magreni - baritone

The students were backed up in spirit and on stage by various members of Pittsburgh Metro, Greater Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh North Hills, Pittsburgh South Hills, the Allegheny Prime Time chorus and the Sounds Of Pittsburgh chorus. The committee for this event consisted of Elizabeth Coles and Arlene McAllister, Allegheny Prime Time Chorus, Jan McQuaid, Sounds Of Pittsburgh Chorus, Jarvis Cotton and Joseph Fricker, Pittsburgh Metro Chapter, Roger McQuaid, Pittsburgh North Hills Chapter, Ken Williams, Pittsburgh South Hills Chapter and Bob Parker, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter.


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Page 7

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Page 8

Seen here is a representative group of the Barbershop Singers, VA Hospital Volunteers, featured Patient-Singers Barbershop Volunteers and VA Staff who make this popular program possible every Wednesday morning (10-11 am) at the Highland Drive VA Hospital. Seen Lt. to Rt. Are: Jim McCarthy (Gr. Pgh. Chapter); Stan Schultz (No. Hills Chapter); Rita Blumer; Art Blumer (seated, No. Hills); Bill Amos (Gr. Pgh.); Bernie Sippel (No. Hills); Paul Kay/or, Volunteer; Walt Brown (No. Hills); Ed Deitz (No. Hills); Kevin Patterson, Volunteer; Ken Ernst (Gr Pgh.); Fred Dean (Gr Pgh.); Gerald Williams, Patient Feature Singer (scooter); John Power (Gr. Pgh.); Keith Zanetti, VA Program Coordinator; Mike Durish, Patient Feature Singer; Uri Carpenter (No. Hills); Nancy Kennedy, LPN and Vanetta Payne, LPN.

With a handful of Barbershop singers and a roomful of Highland Drive VA patients back in 1989, this highly successful singing program began. The idea was to teach the VA patients the Barbershop style of singing in a form of music therapy.

The fact that this program has grown in popularity every Wednesday morning is proof of its worth. A few Barbershop singers, including Greater Pittsburgh Chapter's Lou Vlahos and Bill Amos, got it started. And since that time, both the Greater Pittsburgh and North Hills Chapters have cultivated and nurtured this popular weekly program into a fine art including patient featured soloists, patient group sing-a-longs, and some Barbershop quartet harmony.

Over the years the Highland Drive VA Hospital has obtained sing-a-long books for the patients to use while participating in these weekly singing sessions. Participating patients number as high as thirty at times. Barbershop singers helping out in the weekly program average about twelve each week. And Bill Amos's MC'ing gets better and more creative each week.

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Page 9

The opportunity for an impromptu performance may present itself when you least expect it. Following is an example, in a situation that the participants said was a good ending to a good week-end.

Gary Corpora, Skip Gillis, Bob Parker and Tom Steimer were on their way home from the last COTS session and stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in St. Clairsville, Ohio (just west of Wheeling). The four finished lunch and were getting ready to leave. Exiting from the dining room, they met Susan Nist, ex-director of the Butler Chapter, and 5 or 6 previous members of the Butler Chapter (who are currently considering establishing' a new chapter).

The combined group had sufficient number of each voice part to sing as a VLQ so they gave forth with a rendition of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." Everyone in the restaurant grew silent and when the group finished, they were greeted with "thundering" applause. The manager told them they could come back anytime.

So if you're ever in a quartet driving through St. Clairsville, Ohio, stop at the Cracker Barrel, and you will always be welcome.

I'm happy to tell you that we have a new quartet in our chapter. They are the "Songmen 4."

The quartet consist of Jim McCarthy (lead), Bill Mcveagh (bass), Skip Gillis (tenor) and Ken Ernst baritone). The quartet has already been busy doing some performances and, as of this writing, have another scheduled. Hopefully, they will continue to be active.

Back in February, a quartet (arranged by Jim McCarthy) presented a "Singing Valentine" to a surprised and very pleased Mary Sirochmen (widow of long time member, John Sirochmen). In the photo below, Mary is holding her valentine rose and is surrounded by (Lt. to Rt.) Jay Garber, Jim McCarthy and Ken Ernst. Missing from the photo is Skip Gillis, who was a member of the quartet but drew the short straw and had to do photographer duty.

The Three Rivers Chorus only did one performance since the last edition of this column. On March 22, the chorus traveled to Bloomfield and sang for an MRP meeting/luncheon being held at the Immaculate Conception Church.

It appears that this was the last chorus performance (outside of our April annual show) for Director, Joe Veltre, who is retiring from directing. We will all miss Joe's enthusiastic efforts in front of the chorus. Hopefully, we will be able to locate a qualified replacement for Joe, but so far we have no one lined up.

As of this writing, the chorus does not have any additional scheduled performances. Perhaps a short break will be welcome in our absence of a Director. However, all members are urged to pass out those Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, Three rivers Chorus, business cards at every available opportunity. For your information, an Ad has been placed in the Pittsburgh Senior Newspaper advertising the chorus as being available for performances.

In quartet action, Random Choice (with Bill Amos, Jay Garber, Gordon Knapp and Tom Koch) did a few performances.

On March 6, "RC" performed for residents of the Weatherwood Assisted Living Center in Greensburg.

Then on March 30, "RC" appeared at the Marian Home at Mt. Assisi complex in Bellevue. The quartet sang at a birthday party for 98 years old, Joe Reinhart. Joe, surrounded by a room full of family, friends and other residents, was very pleased.

Our newest quartet, the Songmen 4, with Ken Ernst, Skip Gillis, Jim McCarthy and Bill Mcveagh reported to me that they have done some performances including; a meeting at the Oakland VA Hospital, a meeting of the Penn Hills Rotary Club and also for the Penn Hills Shriners.

Keep it up guys!

Lead: Hey Bill! How's your pet fish doing?
Tenor: To tell the truth, I'm disappointed in him. The guy who sold him to me said he could sing like a bird.
Lead: You bought a fish because you thought you could teach him to sing? I can't believe it!
Tenor: Well, yeah, after all, he's a parrot fish.
Lead: I hate to tell you this, Bill, but while you might be able to teach a parrot to sing, you're never going to get anywhere with a parrot fish.
Tenor: That's what you think! He can sing alright. The thing is, he keeps singing off-key. It's driving me crazy. Do you know how hard it is to tuna fish?

[as they say... How about them tenors!!!]

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Page 10

Yes, it was 1992 and we were meeting each Tuesday night at Beulah Church. Our membership roster showed 115 members of which 70-some showed up each week. Our weekly afterglow was at Toves Tap-In where we filled the back room every Tuesday night with our own members, guests from other chapters and Toves customers who hung around to hear the barbershoppers (free entertainment).

Gordon Knapp was president and Bill McCord was director. Bill was awarded chapter "Barbershopper Of The Year." Joe Veltre was assistant director and responsible for stage presence. Seven chapter members (Jim West, Jay Garber, Bill Martin, Bill Amos, Jim Campbell, Dave Stucker and Joe Knittel) were serving at the District level.

Joe Knittel was bulletin editor and his January edition honored Bill Hamilton who had just completed 50 years in the Society. He also pointed out that we started 1992 with 16 new members who had joined throughout the previous year.

Joe also reported that our Ladies Auxiliary, the Silent Notes, has treated us at their annual Christmas Party at Krick's Country Kitchen and had presented the chapter with their annual gift; a check in the amount of $1,000. At that time there were 54 members in the Silent Notes.

Active quartets, made up of chapter members, Included; The West Penn Connection, The Alumni, Gentlemen's Quartet, Circle W Four, The Daytimers, Memories of Yesterday, Memory Times IV, Treblemakers, Top Hat, The Chapmen Brothers and Ringside. The Alumni (Don Scheetz, Bill McCord, George Kosak, Leo Sisk) were JAD Senior Quartet Champions.

23 Chapter members attended Apple Corps. in June.

Our annual show was at Heinz Hall and featured The Three Rivers Chorus, The Pittsburgh Banjo Club, Young Men In Harmony, guest quartet Yesteryear, chapter quartets, Memories of Yesterday, Treblemakers, Circle W Four, Alumni and a guest appearance by "The Phantom" (AKA Bill McCord).

In addition to our regular annual show, our chorus did various "mini-shows." For example, on May 16, we did a show with the Penn Hills Stage Band at the Linton Jr. High School. On August 29, we appeared at the Great Meadows Amphitheater in a show sponsored by the Great Meadows Arts and Heritage Society of Uniontown.

We regularly attracted guests. For example, during the month of February, records show that 30 guests showed up at weekly meetings. An IBH night held on April 14 attracted 38 guests.

Talking about IBH nights, in October of that year we held a combined IBH and past-presidents night. Our printed program for that evening listed every past president from 1942 (Maurice "Molly" Reagan) up to 1992 (Gordon Knapp). The program for that evening also listed 26 members with more than 25 years service.

Our contest package was our "Old Man" package consisting of Little Boy and I'm Still Having Fun. We placed 7th out of 20 at Divisional. We then went to Toledo (Maumee, Ohio) and placed only 16 at District competition, but we had a great time in our hospitality suite at the Ramada.

In April we received the Society's Public Relations Achievement Award thanks to Bob Brandl's efforts at establishing the Barbershop Library Information Program at Carnegie Library.

May 31, our chorus, with Joe Veltre directing, was featured at Three Rivers Stadium as part of the "Turn Back The Clock" celebration sponsored by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball club.

The chapter bowling league, The Bowlcats," were active at Sunset Lanes. The league had an annual banquet (overnight affair) at the Mt. View Inn where they also attended a show at St. Vincent College and played some golf.

The program at the VET's hospital was active and started to attract guys from North Hills Chapter.

The Society selected the emblem designed by Jay Garber for the up-coming International Convention in Pittsburgh in 1994.

Chapter members were busy collecting Campbell's labels and selling plastic wrap.

Bill Amos reported that his records showed that Shenandoah had been requested and sung by the chorus over 400 times.

The 4 x 4 concept was originated whereby we had multiple VLQ's consisting of 4 men of each voice part. The VLQ's could be used for requested performances if use of the entire chorus was not practical. The program had limited success and was discontinued.

The Greater Pittsburgh Chapter placed second in JAD and eleventh Internationally in 'Achievement Points." (remember them)?

It was a good year!!

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Page 11

For this shot at Songs We Sing, I decided to try to find some info. on two songs from this year's show, namely; Five Foot Two (Eyes Of Blue) and My Wife The Dancer.

Five Foot Two dates back to 1925. The music composer was Ray Henderson and the lyrics were developed by Sam Lewis and Joe Young. The barbershop arrangement which we sing is actually the chorus plus portions of the first and second verses. For your edification, here are the first and second verses:

1. I just saw a maniac, maniac, maniac, Wild and tearing his hair, Jumping like a Jumpin' Jack, Jumpin' Jack, Jumpin' Jack, Child, you should have been there, Laughed so loud I thought I would cave in, When I heard that silly, daffy-dilly ravin': Five foot two...

2. Love made him a lunatic, lunatic, lunatic, Gee! He hollered and cried, Like a monkey on a stick, On a stick, on a stick, He was fit to be tied. When we asked him for his wife's description, He just answered all of us with this conniption: Five foot two...

The chorus is essentially the song as we sing it except for the words, "flapper, yes sir, one of those." In the original score, the words on this line were, "Never had no other beaus." I couldn't figure out where the "flapper" words came from.

On the internet, I found references to recordings of Five Foot Two by none other than Dean Martin and Liberace once included the song in his performance repertoire.

For My Wife The Dancer, the ol' internet was sparse on information. I wasn't able to actually find a history of the song, but found various original recordings of the song for sale on eBay.

The most common record for sale was an Ivanhoe label, 45 RPM 1970 recording My Wife The Dancer - Eddie & Dutch (Mascari - Wenzlaff) Arranged by Johnny Lamont. The flip side of the recording is "Can't Help Lovin' That GirL" Someone help me out... who were Eddie & Dutch?

Another offering of My Wife The Dancer that I found for sale on eBAy, was a recording by the Naughty Neighborhood Band. Who the heck are they?

In the same year, in May of 1970, Charley Stahl made the Barbershop arrangement which we sing. The song was included on the first recording made by the Alexandria Harmonizers and was included in the 25 song album recorded by the 1971 International champion quartet, Gentlemen's Agreement (Al Rehkop, Drayton Justus, Glenn VanTassell and Bob Whitledge). The song has been a favorite of barbershoppers ever since and always seems to get a good response when included in performances.